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Real estate developer (and father of the Hadid sisters) Mohamed Hadid may be nearing a guilty plea bargain to avoid possible jail time in a criminal case involving a Bel Air megamansion he built in violation of city codes.
According to Curbed LA, the 30,000-square-foot home at 901 Strada Vecchia in Bel Air's East Gate community was built "without proper permits, failure to bring [the] building into compliance, and [refusal] to comply with building codes". Furthermore, when the city of Los Angeles revoked Hadid's building permits in 2014 and ordered a halt of construction, Hadid continued. "Inspectors with the city’s building and safety department reported finding numerous unapproved additions to the property," Curbed continues, "including two concrete decks, three large retaining walls, and a full story below the basement."
“We have no trust,” Larry Galstian, chief inspector for the city's building department, told the New York Times in 2015. “As a manager of this bureau, I have allocated multiple hundreds of hours of my staff to monitor this project. This is unfair. ...Every time you come to the project, gates are closed. Every time we knock on the door, they have to take 15 minutes to open the door. ...There is no cooperation from [the team]."
In 2015, the City of Los Angeles filed criminal charges against Hadid for the violations. And while possible punishments could include incarceration, City Attorney Deputy Chief Tina Hess stated that the department will not pursue jail time, rather, a fine, community service, and possibly barring Hadid from any new developments in Los Angeles for a set period, reports the Beverly Hills Courier.
The Courier concludes that Hadid's attorneys are in the process of settling on a guilty plea bargain, and may delay sentencing in the case to allow for Hadid to bring the Bel Air property up to code. A follow-up hearing in the case is scheduled for May 9.
